Marques Haynes

As a child, Haynes learned to dribble a basketball in the dirt yard of his home. A native of Sand Springs, Oklahoma, he attended Booker T. Washington High School and received a $25 church scholarship to play basketball for Langston University,{{cite news|url=http://www.tulsaworld.com/sportsextra/nba/globetrotting-tales/article_9372f3fa-5580-586e-9bc0-688f9626a037.html|work=Tulsa World|title=Globetrotting tales|access-date=May 23, 2015|date=June 25, 2008|first=Jimmie|last=Tramel}} where he attended from 1942 to 1946. During his time with the Langston Lions, the team racked up a winning record of 112–3, including a 59-game winning streak.{{cite web|url=http://www.langstonsports.com/mens-sports/basketball/news/haynes-be-inducted-2011-oklahoma-hall-fame|publisher=Langston University|title=Haynes to be inducted into 2011 Oklahoma Hall of Fame|first=Michael|last=Stewart|date=November 14, 2011|access-date=May 23, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150524175323/http://www.langstonsports.com/mens-sports/basketball/news/haynes-be-inducted-2011-oklahoma-hall-fame|archive-date=May 24, 2015|url-status=dead}}

In a February 1945 conference tournament game, Haynes showed off his dribbling skills for more than two minutes, running down the clock on a solid lead to ridicule an opponent, Southern University, which had run up the score against an inferior team (Sam Huston College, later Huston–Tillotson University, coached by a young Jackie Robinson) in a previous round.[http://www.ericenders.com/jackieaustin.htm "Jackie Robinson, College Basketball Coach] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091017193845/http://www.ericenders.com/jackieaustin.htm |date=2009-10-17 }}." Austin American-Statesman, April 15, 1997. Haynes' own coach, the legendary Zip Gayles, threatened to kick him off the team for his showboating display,{{cite web|url=http://oksportshof.org/hall-of-fame-members/ceaser-zip-gayles/|publisher=Oklahoma Hall of Fame|title=Ceaser "Zip" Gayles|access-date=May 23, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150530161658/http://oksportshof.org/hall-of-fame-members/ceaser-zip-gayles/|archive-date=May 30, 2015|url-status=dead}} but it got an immense response from the crowd at the game.

In 1946, Langston was invited to play an exhibition game against the Globetrotters in Oklahoma City. In that game, Haynes led Langston to a 4-point win, catching the eye of team owner Abe Saperstein in the process.{{cite web|url=http://www.harlemglobetrotters.com/news/harlem-globetrotters-legend-and-hall-famer-marques-haynes-passes-away-89|publisher=Harlem Globetrotters|title=Harlem Globetrotters Legend – And Hall Of Famer – Marques Haynes Passes Away At 89|access-date=May 23, 2015|date=May 22, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150524213055/http://www.harlemglobetrotters.com/news/harlem-globetrotters-legend-and-hall-famer-marques-haynes-passes-away-89|archive-date=May 24, 2015|url-status=dead}} He was invited to join the Globetrotters, and, after completing his degree, began his long professional career.{{cite news|url=http://kfor.com/2015/05/22/harlem-globetrotter-legend-and-oklahoma-native-marques-haynes-dies-at-89/|agency=KFOR|title=Harlem Globetrotter Legend and Oklahoma Native Marques Haynes Dies at 89|first=Brian|last=Brinkley|date=May 22, 2015|access-date=May 23, 2015}} Prior to joining the Globetrotters, Haynes briefly played for the Kansas City Stars of the Black Professional Basketball League.

File:Marques Haynes 1950.jpg

Haynes played with the Globetrotters from 1947 to 1953. One of the exhibition games in which he played was the famous game in West Berlin on August 22, 1951, where a landmark 75,000 people were recorded in attendance—although Haynes later insisted the turnout was closer to 90,000—and Haynes met track star Jesse Owens, with whom he roomed on the tour. He also toured South America with the Globetrotters and played a series of exhibition games against some of the top college basketball teams in the United States.

In 1953, Haynes left the Globetrotters after an acrimonious split with Abe Saperstein, the team's owner. After quitting the team, he turned down a $35,000 a year offer from the Philadelphia Warriors that would have made him the second-highest paid player in the NBA to found his own barnstorming team, the Harlem Magicians, after finding out that Saperstein was a part-owner of the Warriors.{{cite news|url=https://nypost.com/2011/06/19/hall-of-famer-haynes-talks-family-life-in-hoops/|work=The New York Post|title=Hall of Famer Haynes talks family, life in hoops|first=Peter|last=Vecsey|date=June 19, 2011|access-date=May 23, 2015}} He also received an offer to play for the Minneapolis Lakers in 1955, but he turned down that opportunity as well.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/23/sports/marques-haynes-harlem-globetrotters-star-dribbler-dies-at-89.html|work=The New York Times|title=Marques Haynes, 89, Dies; Dribbled as a Globetrotter and Dazzled Worldwide|date=May 22, 2015|access-date=May 23, 2015|first=Bruce|last=Weber}} Despite a series of legal battles with Saperstein, Haynes attended his funeral in 1966, although he later joked he was only there to "make sure he didn't jump out of the casket".

Haynes later rejoined the Globetrotters as a player and coach in 1972. During his second stint with the team, he founded a clothing company in 1973, through which he met his wife Joan, a model. He was a regular on the 1974–75 The Harlem Globetrotters Popcorn Machine TV show.{{citation needed|date=December 2015}} After leaving the Globetrotters again in 1979, he played for Meadowlark Lemon's Bucketeers, the Harlem Wizards, and a revitalized incarnation of his old Harlem Magicians.

By the end of his playing career, Haynes was estimated to have played in at least 12,000 games and visited more than 100 countries.

Haynes retired in 1992 after a 46-year professional career, and was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1998,{{cite web|publisher=The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame|url=http://www.hoophall.com/hall-of-famers/tag/marques-o-haynes|title=Hall of Famers: Marques O. Haynes|access-date=May 23, 2015|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140113203526/http://www.hoophall.com/hall-of-famers/tag/marques-o-haynes|archive-date=January 13, 2014}} the first Globetrotter to be so honored. On January 5, 2001, he received his "Legends" ring from the Harlem Globetrotters in Chicago. The Globetrotters also retired his #20 jersey in his honor.{{cite web|url=http://www.harlemglobetrotters.com/news/be-best-you-got-beat-best-marques-haynes|publisher=Harlem Globetrotters|title=To be the best, you got to beat the best: Marques Haynes|date=August 2, 2012|access-date=May 23, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150906121217/http://www.harlemglobetrotters.com/news/be-best-you-got-beat-best-marques-haynes|archive-date=September 6, 2015|url-status=dead}}

Haynes spent his twilight years in Plano, Texas, where he and his wife moved in the mid-1990s to be closer to their daughters. His old team, the Globetrotters, "pulled strings" to get him a ticket to the 2010 NBA All-Star Game in Arlington, Texas.{{cite news|url=http://www.dallasnews.com/sports/dallas-mavericks/headlines/20100206-NBA-All-Star-game-is-really-6958.ece|work=The Dallas Morning News|title=NBA All-Star game is really filling it up|first=Brad|last=Townsend|date=February 8, 2010|access-date=May 23, 2015}} In 2011, he was inducted into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame. That year, he also joined the staff of the Texas Legends, a farm team for the Dallas Mavericks. At the time, he told the press that, even at the age of 85, "Basketball is constantly on my mind."{{cite news|url=http://www.dallasweekly.com/sports/article_fd1b5b60-1083-11e1-b6b3-0019bb30f31a.html|work=The Dallas Weekly|title=Former Globetrotter Marques Haynes joins Texas Legends|date=November 16, 2011|access-date=May 23, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160525084105/http://www.dallasweekly.com/sports/article_fd1b5b60-1083-11e1-b6b3-0019bb30f31a.html|archive-date=May 25, 2016|url-status=dead}}

Haynes died at the age of 89 on May 22, 2015,{{cite web | url=https://abcnews.go.com/Sports/wireStory/harlem-globetrotter-great-marques-haynes-dies-89-31241095 | title=Harlem Globetrotter Great Marques Haynes Dies at 89 | work=ABC News | date=22 May 2015 | access-date=22 May 2015}} in Plano, Texas.{{cite web |url=http://www.bostonherald.com/news_opinion/obituaries/2015/05/harlem_globetrotters_great_marques_haynes_dies_at_89 |title=Harlem Globetrotters great Marques Haynes dies at 89 {{!}} Boston Herald |website=www.bostonherald.com |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150531104914/http://www.bostonherald.com/news_opinion/obituaries/2015/05/harlem_globetrotters_great_marques_haynes_dies_at_89 |archive-date=2015-05-31}} His death was stated to be of natural causes.{{cite news|url=http://www.mercurynews.com/sports/ci_28176067/sports-digest-harlem-globetrotters-great-marques-haynes-dies|work=San Jose Mercury News|title=Sports digest: Harlem Globetrotters great Marques Haynes dies|date=May 22, 2015|access-date=May 23, 2015}}

Haynes was considered to be among the greatest ballhandlers who ever lived. Wilt Chamberlain once said, "What he did was something that I could never do, and I could do almost everything on the basketball court."{{cite AV media

| people = Wilt Chamberlain

| date = May 23, 2015

| title = Remembering Marques Haynes

| medium = Short

| url = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wJxY2RkLwY&t=36

| access-date = July 7, 2017

| location = YouTube

| publisher = NBA

}} His game influenced players such as Bob Cousy, Pete Maravich, and Fred "Curly" Neal.{{cite web|url=http://www.nba.com/dleague/texas/texas_legends__honor_basketb_2012_01_14.html|publisher=NBA D-League|title=Texas legends to honor Basketball Hall of Famer Marques Haynes|date=January 14, 2011|access-date=May 22, 2015|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151024103956/http://www.nba.com/dleague/texas/texas_legends__honor_basketb_2012_01_14.html|archive-date=October 24, 2015}} He has been described as one of the best basketball players never to compete in the NBA.{{cite news|url=http://thescoopblog.dallasnews.com/2015/05/legendary-globetrotter-marques-haynes-one-of-basketballs-all-time-greats-died-friday-in-plano.html/|work=The Dallas Morning News|title=Legendary Globetrotter Marques Haynes, one of basketball's all-time greats, died Friday in Plano|first=Robert|last=Wilonsky|date=May 22, 2015|access-date=May 23, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150524000707/http://thescoopblog.dallasnews.com/2015/05/legendary-globetrotter-marques-haynes-one-of-basketballs-all-time-greats-died-friday-in-plano.html/|archive-date=May 24, 2015|url-status=dead}}

Haynes was known for his catchphrase, "I'm Marques Haynes, I'll show you how!"{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/early-lead/wp/2015/05/22/hall-of-fame-harlem-globetrotter-marques-haynes-dies-at-89/|newspaper=The Washington Post|title=Hall of Fame Harlem Globetrotter Marques Haynes dies at 89|first=Marissa|last=Payne|date=May 22, 2015|access-date=May 22, 2015}} His daughter Marsha is married to Dallas Cowboys player Drew Pearson.{{Cite news |title=Pearson, Casillas among hall of fame inductees |url=https://www.myplainview.com/news/article/Pearson-Casillas-among-hall-of-fame-inductees-8471517.php |last=Latzke |first=Jeff |date=2008-05-13 |access-date=2023-05-06 |work=My Plainview}}

The March 16, 2022 game between Morgan State and Youngstown State at The Basketball Classic was designated as the Marques Haynes Game.{{cite web|title=Marques Haynes Game|url=https://www.thebasketballclassic.com/Marques_Haynes_Game.pdf|publisher=The Basketball Classic|access-date=March 15, 2022}}

{{Reflist|30em}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20141106115117/http://digital.library.okstate.edu/ENCYCLOPEDIA/entries/H/HA055.html Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture – Haynes, Marques]
• [http://www.voicesofoklahoma.com/interview/haynes-marques/ Voices of Oklahoma interview with Marques Haynes.] First person interview conducted on December 28, 2011, with Marques Haynes.
• [https://texas.gleague.nba.com/community/legends-care/marques-haynes-memorial/ Marques Haynes Memorial Foundation]

{{1998 Basketball HOF}}

{{Basketball Hall of Fame guards}}

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Category:1926 births

Category:2015 deaths

Category:American men's basketball players

Category:Basketball executives

Category:Basketball players from Oklahoma

Category:Harlem Globetrotters coaches

Category:Harlem Globetrotters players

Category:Langston Lions basketball players

Category:Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inductees

Category:National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame inductees

Category:Basketball players from Plano, Texas

Category:20th-century African-American sportsmen

Category:20th-century American sportsmen

Category:21st-century African-American sportsmen